December 20, 2013 UPDATE

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Leyla Cheamil, 20.12.2013, 12:37

ECONOMIC GROWTH – Romania’s economic growth rate for 2012 has been revised downwards from 0.7% to 0.6%, according to data made public today by the National Statistics Institute. In April the Statistics Institute announced an economic growth forecast for 2012 of 0.7%, way over the previous estimations of 0.3%. In the first nine months of 2013 Romania’s GDP went up by 2.7% thanks to industry and agriculture.

CYBER CRIME – The European Council decided to set up a new office for combating cyber crime, Romanian president Traian Basescu said upon his return from the European Council Winter Summit in Brussels. Basescu said losses caused by cyber crime in 2012 stood at 290 billion euros at EU level. Some 148,000 computers are hacked and brought out of order every day, with over 150,000 viruses being uploaded into cyber networks of EU member states. President Basescu said Romania would have to decide on a set of segments where it can reach performance in its defence industry.

COMMEMORATION – Timisoara on Friday celebrated the day when the city became ‘free from communism’. In this western Romanian city, the popular revolt, which had started on December 16, took a dramatic turn when the authorities tried to get rid of the evidence of repressive activity by the security forces the days before. On December 20 over 150,000 workers took to the streets shouting slogans against the regime. This unexpected movement of the working class forced the army back into barracks and turned Timisoara into ‘the first city free from communism’.

PUBLIC TELEVISION – The Romanian Parliament on Friday voted in Stelian Tanase as interim general director of the Romanian Public Television Station. Tanase will take over the mandate of Claudiu Saftoiu, who stepped down after Parliament rejected the activity report of the public television station. Aged 61, Tanase was proposed by the National Liberal Party. He has a PhD in philosophy and is known as a writer, essayist, historian, political analyst and television producer.

MOLDOVA – The European Council will stand by the Republic of Moldova and Georgia in their efforts to join the European Union, being willing to accelerate the process of signing the Association Treatises with the EU by August 2014 at the latest. The declaration was made on Friday by European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, during the European Council Winter Summit held in Brussels. The two countries initialled Association and Free Trade Treatises at the Eastern Partnership Summit of November in Vilnius. Herman Van Rompuy also said Ukraine belongs in the EU, while EU leaders leave the door open to Ukraine, although not to the current authorities, to sign the Association Treaty. We recall that on November 21 Ukraine suspended the process of initialling the Association and Free Trade Treatises with the EU.

AWARD – Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu was awarded the 2013 Prize for Cultural Diversity granted by the French Coalition for Cultural Diversity. The prize is awarded to individuals and associations easing access to culture and promoting all kinds of cultural expression. Cristian Mungiu is the recipient of several Cannes prizes. In 2007 he won the Palme dOr for his second feature film, “4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days”, while in 2012 “Beyond the Hills” won the best script and best leading actress prizes.

EU – The European Commission on Friday contested the decision of Standard&Poor’s rating agency to downgrade the credit rating of the European Union from AAA’ to “AA +’ with a stable outlook. Union officials are saying the other two major rating agencies, Fitch and Moody’s, have kept the triple-A rating for the EU. The downgrade after several EU countries experiencing financial difficulties, such as France, Italy and Spain, had their rating lowered.